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Indonesia Higher Education
Indonesia's institutions of higher education have
experienced
dramatic growth since independence. In 1950 there were ten
institutions of higher learning, with a total of 6,500
students. In
1970 there were 450 private and state institutions
enrolling
237,000 students, and by 1990 there were 900 institutions
with
141,000 teachers and nearly 1,486,000 students. Public
institutions
enjoyed a considerably better student-teacher ratio (14 to
1) than
private institutions (46 to 1) in the mid-1980s.
Approximately 80
to 90 percent of state university budgets were financed by
government subsidies, although the universities had
considerably
more autonomy in curriculum and internal structure than
primary and
secondary schools. Whereas tuition in such state
institutions was
affordable, faculty salaries were low by international
standards.
Still, university salaries were higher than primary and
secondary
school salaries. In addition, lecturers often had other
jobs
outside the university to supplement their wages.
Private universities were operated by foundations.
Unlike state
universities, private institutions had budgets that were
almost
entirely tuition driven. Each student negotiated a
one-time
registration fee--which could be quite high--at the time
of entry.
If a university had a religious affiliation, it could
finance some
of its costs through donations or grants from
international
religious organizations. The government provided only
limited
support for private universities.
Higher education in the early 1990s offered a wide
range of
programs, many of which were in a state of flux. Nearly
half of all
students enrolled in higher education in 1985 were social
sciences
majors. Humanities and science and technology represented
nearly 28
percent and 21 percent, respectively. The major degrees
granted
were the sarjana muda (junior scholar; roughly
corresponding
to a bachelor's degree) and the sarjana (scholar or
master's
degree). Very few doktor (doctoral) degrees were
awarded.
Few students studying for the sarjana muda actually
finished
in one to three years. One study found that only 10 to 15
percent
of students finished their course of study on time, partly
because
of the requirement to complete the traditional
skripsi
(thesis). In 1988, for instance, 235,000 new students were
admitted
for sarjana muda-level training and 1,234,800 were
enrolled
at various stages of the program, but only 95,600
graduated.
Discussion about how to improve Indonesian higher
education
focused on issues of teacher salaries, laboratory and
research
facilities, and professor qualifications. According to
official
figures, in 1984 only 13.9 percent of permanent faculty
members at
state institutions of higher learning had any advanced
degree; only
4.5 percent had a doctorate. Since doctoral programs were
rare in
Indonesia and there was little money to support education
overseas,
this situation improved only slowly. Despite these
difficulties,
most institutions of higher education received large
numbers of
applications in the late 1980s and early 1990s; in state
institutions less than one application in four was
accepted. One of
the most serious problems for graduates with advanced
degrees,
however, was finding employment suited to their newly
acquired
education.
The University of Indonesia, founded in Jakarta in the
1930s,
is the nation's oldest university. Other major
universities include
Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia's oldest
postindependence
university, founded in 1946) in Yogyakarta; Catholic
University and
Institut Teknologi Bandung, both in Bandung; and the
Institut
Pertanian Bogor in Bogor. In the early 1990s, there also
were
important regional universities in Sulawesi, Sumatera
Utara, Jawa
Barat, and Irian Jaya.
Data as of November 1992
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